PS 

nil 




Class 



;T s 35- /r 






CQEXRICHT DEPOSm 



'./*^ 



THROUGH A GLASS 



THROUGH A GLASS 

By 
FANNY deGROOT HASTINGS 



^ 



PUBLISHED BY 

WILLIAM EDWIN RUDGE 

NEW YOP.K 






Copyright, 1921, by 
Fanny deGroot Hastings 



OEC -7 Id2l 
3)C!.A630G11 



To 
Mrs, Kate Y, Remer 

Because you love and see 
All lo vely th ings , 

They bear an ecstasy 
Akin to wings. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

Thanks are due to the editors of The Sun 
Dial, The Globe and The Junior League 
Bulletin for permission to reprint poems 
which originally appeared in their pages. 



FOREWORD 

As through a glass and darkly still 
I read the manuscript of vale and hill, 
And watch Thy shining words, the stars 

unroll 
And rest on Heaven's table like a scroll. 

With clumsy hand and lifeless tools I try 
To copy wonders that the silent sky, 
The radiant earth and man's nobility 
Hold like a wonder-book for all to see. 

Where I have failed to write the vision plain, 
That he who runs may read, erase the stain, 
And from my tangled words set free 
The perfect thought original with Thee. 



CONTENTS 

Foreword n 

The League OF Nations ii 

Fireworks 12 

Three White Fingers 13 

Bridges 14 

My Father's House i/; 

The Spirit OF Christ 16 

To Seers ly 

Worldlings 18 

Prelude in- 

Simile 20 

Tolerance 21 

Isolation 22 

The Book OF Life 23 

Unity 24 

Precious Seed • • ^5 

Shadow AND Substance 26 

MULTUM IN PaRVO 27 

To Night 28 

To One Who Taught Me 

How TO Read 29 

ToMrs.K.Y.Remer 30 

ToLadyAstor, M.P 32 



ToSaraTeasdale ^^ 

Love 34 

To Adelaide 35 

To A Feathered Friend ^6 

The Flower Carts of Spring • • • 37 

Autumn Trees 38 

Imagination 39 

Ten Talents 40 

The Presence 41 

Charity 42 

Fruit 43 

Be Still 44 

Relatives 45 

After Rain 46 

Sacrifice 47 

Expectancy 48 

Heavenly Visitors 49 

Vision 50 

In Quietness 51 

My Words 52 

Response 53 

Overflow 54 



THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS 

Somewhere under the blazing sun 

An army weeps. The race is run, 

But America squanders the prize it won. 

Shoulder to shoulder men fought and died, 

And now we draw our skirts aside 

While the vision they willed us is crucified. 

Somewhere under the boundless skies 

An army prays for the blind eyes 

And feeble hands that fumble the prize. 



Arise, America, and take 

Your place with those who are awake 

To the great issue now at stake. 



[II] 



FIREWORKS 

Pinwheel, sky-rocket, bomb and balloon 
Burst in the face of the solemn moon; 
Burst and blaze and sizzle and shriek 
And dive to the bottom of the clear, cool 

creek. 
Towers of tinsel, Babel of sound. 
Built for a minute, then razed to the ground, 
Flaunting the toys of their tawdry display 
On the silent splendor of the Milky Way. 
Mockers and mimics, what an odd bazaar 
To hold at the feet of a steadfast star! 



[12] 



THREE WHITE FINGERS 

Woolworth, Metropolitan Life and 
Bush Ter?ninal Buildings 

Up through the noise and smoke of sordid 

things, 
Yesterday the City's hope and dreams took 

wings; 

Mounted from the lips of men tremulous 

in prayer, 
Shaped themselves in shafts of stone, 

crystallized in air. 

Splendid in the sunshine, luminous at night, 
Everywhere I go I see these sentinels in 
white. 

Up above the cavern street they hold my 

eye — 
Three white fingers pointing to the sky. 



13 



BRIDGES 

We firmly tread the mighty bridge 
Above a torrent's rush and roar, 
And safely on its solid floor 

We pass from ridge to ridge. 

Press on, O heart of man; above 

The troubled waters' noisy flight. 
Spanning the space from height to 
height. 

Our God has swung His love. 



14] 



MY FATHER'S HOUSE 

The house of cards which I designed 

And builded yesterday 
Was razed to earth the night the wind 

Of God began to play. 

I shuddered for I thought that I 
Should be without a home; 

But He who gave the open sky 
A blue and starry dome 

Had fashioned round my house of sod 
The mansion of His will: 

Not to destroy, the winds of God 
Had blown, but to fulfill. 



[15 



THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST 

He moves in quietness by choice 
His wonders to perform — 
After the fire and the storm 

The still, small voice. 

Unnoticed through Jerusalem 

He passed on His appointed task, 
But there was one who made Him ask 

"Who touched my hem ?" 

Tumult, war and clamor fill 

The ages' atmosphere; 

Yet there are always some who hear 
The **Peace, be still." 

Always the spirit walks with men. 

In crowd or desert place. 

Who love Him most behold His face 
Now as then. 



i6] 



TO SEERS 

Dreamer of dreams and seer of visions, 
Bow not your head for a world's derisions; 
Upsoaring, mystical, delicate wings 
Are not for the level of fleshly things. 
Earth and its human cattle crowds 
Scoff at the man with his head in the clouds- 
Scoff but follow the way he leads, 
And from his vision shape their deeds. 
Dreamer of dreams, lift but the higher 
This head. To mortals — their town and its 

crier, 
Chronicling time and an acre of sod — 
Be you the herald of Heaven and God! 



17] 



WORLDLINGS 

When I fashion in wood and stone — 
Vassals of wind and fire — 

They say I'm a workman shown 
Worthy of hire. 

When I work with a dream for my tool, 
And build in the realm of Mind, 

They call me impractical fool. 
And draw their blind. 



[i8 



PRELUDE 

Time cannot hold the greatness of some 

hearts, 
Nor this world reap each harvest that it 

starts; 
It is sown here by patient, fameless hands, 
To bloom in the more fertile pasture lands. 

I have seen greatness, like tomorrow's morn 
Through the night's darkness struggling 

to be born, 
Looking from eyes that have not waked to 

see 
The kingdoms of their own divinity. 



[19 



SIMILE 

Backgrounds are still, but they are not 
colorless; 

They do not draw attention to 
themselves; 
Instead they frame the actor's dress, 

Fold the rhythm of a dance 

Of elves, 

Hold gestures that entrance 
The audience come to see — 
This is their ministry. 

I know people who are like backgrounds. 

Accompaniments do not lead, but they are 
the foundation of song; 

They help the melodies begin. 
Sustain their theme, prolong 

A note that otherwise were mute 

Or thin. 

Give substance to the reedy flute 
That listening worlds may hear no rift — 
This is their office and their gift. 



I know people who are like accompaniments, 
[ao] 



TOLERANCE 

Because I cannot see 

Through others' eyes 

I am not free 
To criticise. 

A million points of view, 
But all of them 

Seeking the New 
Jerusalem. 



21] 



ISOLATION 

There's a splendid isolation 

That walks alone with God, 
That asks no man or nation 

For pence or parcelled sod; 
That treads with high elation 

The path the saints have trod- 
Unmoved by coronation, 

Unbowed beneath the rod. 



[22] 



THE BOOK OF LIFE 

Read from the Book of Life, nor cease 

To search for the line that was written 
for you 

When dawn arose with an infinite peace, 
And the world was new. 

You may not find it today my friend. 

But read; what matter an empty age? 

Your line is there, though it be at the end 
Of the final page. 



[23 



UNITY 

When we lift up our hearts in prayer 
We are at one with all who fare 
Toward God; we are at one with those 
Who make the valley yield its rose; 
With that great host, unseen and seen, 
Who help to keep God's garden green. 



24] 



PRECIOUS SEED 

I send out my thoughts like a flock of birds 

Carrying seed: 
Divine annointings, unspoken words, 

My inmost creed. 

They fall among thorns, on fallow ground. 

Where the winds blow; 
But always, O birds in your flight, you 
have found 

Some sprout and grow. 

I send out my thoughts like a flock of birds 
Carrying seed. 



25 1 



SHADOW AND SUBSTANCE 

Part of me lives at home, 

As roots of a tree 
Stand in a common loam 

Eternally. 

Part of me tosses free 

As topmost branches rise, 

Alone and yearningly- 
Close to the skies. 



26 



MULTUM IN PARVO 

Verse should be brief — 

The treasures of a mine 
Hammered in every line. 

Where grows the leaf 

Too small, too stripped of fame, 
To bear creation's name ? 



27] 



TO NIGHT 

I've sung to the King of Day in vain — 
He pauses but turns away; 

For why should he heed so slight a strain 
When a million are sung a day? 

O queenly Night, unloose your bars, 

And listen to what I sing; 
Fashion a frame of the silent stars 

To capture my song on the wing. 



28 



TO ONE WHO TAUGHT ME HOW TO 
READ 

Do you remember, years ago, the day 

You took me by the hand, and led me, 

blind 
With tears for all the toys we'd left 
behind, 
Up to the border of the wood that lay 
Deserted round the kingdom of my play. 
And helped my young, uncertain feet 

to find 
A pathway to a clearing of the mind. 
And on to tread the Sages' broad highway? 

Today I journey with a quickened sense 

Across the wood we traversed long ago. 
To the fair plain where fact and fiction 
grow, 
And thank you for such rich inheritance — 
For prophets' friendship and a million 

more 
W^ho greet the traveller with open door. 



[29 1 



TO MRS. K. Y. REMER 

J?id her house at the parti?ig of the road 

Last night I came to the end of the road, 
The road I had tramped and knew; 

And I stood perplexed, for the one road 
Parted itself in two. 

Half went left and half went right, 
And I knew not which to tread. 

When suddenly I saw your house 
Greeting me just ahead. 

And you in the doorway, welcoming 

And bidding me rest awhile 
In the arms of the little white house that 
stands 

At the end of a mile and a mile. 

There were warmth and cheer and heavenly 
peace 
In the heart of your blest abode. 
And the dawn that was framed in its window 
pane 
Illumined the right road. 



30 



Homer sings of a friend of man 
Who answered the inner call, 

And lived in a house by the side of the road, 
And ministered unto all. 

I sing a song for the wanderer, 
To wish him a friend like you 

Who lives in a house where the beaten road 
Branches into two. 



[31 



TO LADY ASTOR, M. P. 

They have made place for you upon this floor 
Where never woman's feet have stood before, 
And men of many minds are listening 
To hear the maiden message that you bring. 

You are well armed with freedom's fearless 

sword; 
Use it, but never cut the common cord 
That binds you to the host of womankind 
That share alike the Anglo-Saxon mind. 

Across the sea we reach a sister's hand. 
And send you greetings from your native 

land. 
Woman at last speaks face to face with man. 
As was God's plan. 



32] 



TO SARA TEASDALE 

After read'uig '' Fia^ne a7id Shadow'''' 

Your song is like a soft footfall 

Heard on bright, enchanted ground; 
We doubt that we have heard at all, 

So brief, so delicate the sound. 

Spring has taught you subtle art: 

You leave us wistful, wanting more; 

For, having opened wide our heart, 
You swiftly pass before its door. 

Kind memory, with power to bless. 

Come quickly and your stay prolong 

To bridge this winter's barrenness — 
The silence between song and song. 



LOVE 

Lines w 7- it ten after seeing Miss Jane Cowl 
in ''Smili?i^ Through''^ 

Loose them and let them go — 

Your fear and pride and hate — 

Then you shall wake to know 
Love, the compassionate, 

A presence, a shining grace. 

That makes the oldest new, 

That glorifies the face 

Which it smiles through. 

The universe for stage, 

A role for every heart; 
What if it takes an age 

To learn your part ? 

Love is the only real 

Which was, is, and shall be, 
Which opens the Seventh Seal — 

Eternity. 



34 



TO ADELAIDE 

Aged oiUy zvho kissed and sent me a narcissus 

You sent me a flower today, my love, 

As new to the world as you, 
As white and as fair as the breast of a dove, 

And bathed in dew. 

You sent me only one, my sweet, 

But a thousand have bloomed from one, 
With only the soil of my heart for their feet, 

And vour kiss for sun. 



Z'^ 



TO A FEATHERED FRIEND 

In a cage that my hands had made 
I prisoned a bird today, 

In fear that its serenade 
Should fly away. 

A song filled space, and was free. 

How futile are gilded bars 
To capture an ecstasy 

That reaches the stars ! 

Explorer in science and art. 

Is it true you have never heard 

That only a wide, wide heart 

Can circle the song of a bird ? 



36 



THE FLOWER CARTS OF SPRING 

Hyacinth, geranium, jonquil and rose — 
A four-wheeled garden down the bright 
street goes! 

Kindly, gracious nature chose to send you 

down, 
O caravan of blossoms, to drive about our 

town, 

And whisper to the pavement folk that just 

beyond their gate 
A million fragrant colored things have shown 

their heads of late. 

If we who live on side streets had not caught 

sight of you 
How should we know that Spring has come, 

and all the world is new? 



37 



AUTUMN TREES 

Today I lived with autumn trees; 
And can it be that God made these 
Less beautiful than Heaven's ov>^n? 
It seemed to me, out there alone, 
They breathed a silent hymn of praise 
For summer's wealth of growing days, 
For all the warmth at earth's great heart 
That urged their tender shoots to start 
Last spring, that every leafy crown 
Paid golden toll for its renown. 
And whispered to the setting sun: 
''Today His perfect will was done." 



IMAGINATION 

When my thoughts weary of noise and 
crowd, 

And lose their sense of an Infinite Good, 
I send them out to think aloud 

In a deep green wood, 

Pungent with pine, and fresh with the smell 
Of cool, wet moss in the early hours, 

And carpeted deep in a fairy spell 
Of wee, shy flowers. 

They bathe in a wide, blue lake close by, 
And watch the bright birds overhead. 

And the long, black shadows of tall trees lie 
On the water's bed. 

In a flash they are back — -my thoughts — 

made new 
With the fragrant freedom of those who 

roam. 
And yet their mother is called by you 

Stay-at-home. 



39 



TEN TALENTS 

Light and color everywhere — 
In the heaven's rainbow hair, 
In the sunset and the dawn 
And the flower-covered lawn. 

Even in the earth's dim heart, 
When we drill the rocks apart, 
There are colors that would flout 
Joseph's coat we read about. 

Light and color fill all space 

In this gorgeous dwelling place — 

One gigantic aureole 

From the Tropics to the Pole. 

If your soul would earn its wage 
On so luminous a stage 
It must be so shining bright 
Blind men see it in the night. 



40] 



THE PRESENCE 

I sought You in the face of every man, 

And never found You quite; 
For how can persons visage forth and span 

The whole of Light ? 
Each has some grace, but each some shadow 

too 
To veil the undimmed radiance of You. 

Today I walked far from the homes of men, 

In an unmade land; 
Deep woods, wide lakes I passed, and then — 

I saw You stand — 
One with silence and the hills that brood 
In ageless peace o'er that vast solitude. 



[41 



CHARITY 

She walks our unregenerate way 
With feet that make it clean, 

And passes through the midst of us 
Unseen. 

Unseen as summer's gentlest breeze 
That comes from a far field 

Laden with all the fragrance flowers 
Yield. 



[42 



FRUIT 

For every gentle summer rain 
That heaven gives and takes again, 
Earth has loveliness and grace 
To bless our human dwelling place. 

For every beauty that God lends 
To fill my heart with ecstasy, 
Let there spring up and bloom in me 

New forms of fragrance for my friends. 



431 



BE STILL 

Silence is more audible than words, 

And quiet dawn speaks face to face 

With God before the chorus of the birds 
Fills space. 

Lift up the perfect instrument of prayer 
Before your lips have quivered on its 
strings, 

And it shall cleave the still, expectant air 
Like wings. 



I 44 



RELATIVES 

I have smelt burning coal, 

An ancient, dusty tome — 

And London with its soul 

Has come into my home. 

I have smelt flowers, green 

Moss in the cool of dawn- 

And Heaven, till then unseen. 
Has risen from my lawn. 



45 



AFTER RAIN 

Who would not pass through storms again 

For the "clear shining after rain," 

For the fresh odors that arise, 

And the bright rainbow in the skies ? 

I have seen many lovely things, 
But none to match a rainbow's wings 
Cleaving the sky's metallic shield 
Like two-edged sword the angels wield. 



[46 



SACRIFICE 

I took desire from my heart, 

And buried it one day, 
Far from the ears that heed its call, 

And the feet quick to stray. 

That year when spring was blossoming 

I visited the glade; 
Desire was a spreading tree 

To give my garden shade. 

O miracle of Aaron's rod, 

You live for every child of God. 



[47] 



EXPECTANCY 

As dawn in the beauty of holiness 

Waits for the day, 
Serene and secure that his coming 

None can delay, 

So would I wait for Thy footsteps- 
Lord, my delight — 

All beautiful on the mountains, 
Bringing me light. 



48] 



HEAVENLY VISITORS 

Had orchids been sweet-scented 

At the world's birth, 
God could not have consented 

To send to earth 
Such pure delight. Between 

The land and sky 
These strays from Heaven are seen, 

Poising to fly. 



49 



VISION 

My thoughts weary of their home tree 
And the dried fruit of petty events; 

Their wings are strong, and they would be 
One with oceans and continents. 

I will send them out to the rim of the world 
To gather beauty near and far, 

To watch the flag of heaven unfurled, 
And look out from a star. 



[50 



IN QUIETNESS 

I will be still as the stars and moon 

And the quiet pool that frames them, 

As an open space or thoughts in tune 
With the mind that claims them. 

Perhaps the beauty that gives these grace 
Will draw my hurried ways apart, 

And find another resting place 
In you, my heart. 



[51] 



MY WORDS 

My words be like an atmosphere — 
Transparent, selfless, crystal clear — 
That lives but to reveal the grace 
Of objects that its arms embrace. 

My words be like a midnight sky — 
Invisible to human eye. 
But holding as a wonder-frame 
Stars too numerous to name. 

My words be like a lake's wide bowl- 
Claiming no virtue and no soul, 
But bearing as a loving cup 
Water that shall raise men up. 



[52] 



RESPONSE 

Deep in the heart of me 

Many songs live, 
Never heard, never free. 

Till one, sensitive 
As the twig that bends above 

A long-hidden spring. 
Finds the fountain of my love. 

And bids it sing. 



[53I 



OVERFLOW 

Again and again I have promised myself 
To gather all the songs I've sung, 

And bind me a little book for the shelf 
Conveniently hung. 

But always the day that it comes from press, 
The little book where my songs belong, 

I hear in the still of my heart's recess 
Another song. 



54] 



